PASTE-UP APPARATUS FOR TYPE COMPOSITION AND PROOFING 'INVENTOR John A. McFarland ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jig/m 67 mm v w Filed March 1, 1965 United States Patent 3,323,454 PASTE-UP APPARATUS FOR TYPE COMPOSITION AND PROOFING John A. McFarland, Flint, Mich, assignor to Samar: Corporation, Washington, D.C. Filed Mar. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 436,137 2 Claims. (Cl. 101-269) This invention relates broadly to the printing art and, more particularly, to composing and proofing relief elements such as type, cuts, stereos and the like, from which a mat impression may be made by pressure, which mat is used in completing the printing operation.

In the composition of a composite page or part of a page in which there are included both pictorial cuts and text matter, it is now the practice to first assemble the cuts of pictorial matter and the type slugs of text matter and then to arrange these cuts and slugs in a chase in accordance with a predetermined layout. Inthe usual page of advertising the text and pictorial matter are arranged with intervening spaces which must be filled in order to maintain the cuts and slugs in their predetermined positions. This spacing is accomplished by metal pieces which must be shaped and fitted to the intervening spaces at considerable cost in labor, metal heating and handling, loss of metal by cutting, and the like. It is a truism of the newspaper publishing art that the entire newspaper must be destroyed every day and completely rebuilt the next day. In addition to the costs incident to labor and metal cost, handling and loss, the physical exertion required in handling a filled chase must be taken into account. Each filled chase, weighing upwardly of 150 pounds, must be moved manually from the composing table to a turtle, then to a power proof press, then back to the composing table for correction, thence to a pressing machine for the preparation of the mat, and then back to the composing table.

Having in mind all of these factors, which are involved in the present method of composing and proofing a composite page of advertising, it has been the principal object of this invention to provide a method of, and apparatus for, composing and proofing such a composite page in which method and apparatus the requirement of the provision of metal spacing means between the component parts of the page is eliminated and, instead of such metal, use is made of air or open space, with consequent great saving in cost of labor, materials and physical exertion. While the invention is possibly useful in the composition of a page including only text material, it is not primarily so useful but finds its primary utility in the composition of a page including both text and pictorial matter, such as a page of advertising, it being understood that the word page as used in this specification and the appended claims includes not only a whole page but also part of a page. Accordingly, the invention will be described in this specification in connection with the composition of a page of advertising, including both text and pictorial matter.

The composition of a composite page by the means provided by the invention and described above is new and useful per se, but the process of composition is completed in practice by the taking of a proof sheet in order to verify the composition prior to use of the composed cuts and slugs in the preparation of a mat. It has accordingly been another principal object of the invention to provide apparatus for composing a composite page, which apparatus will be constructed to accommodate and cooperate with the new and improved portable proof press invented by me and described and claimed in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,901,971. The combination of the composing apparatus and the proof press provides a 3,323,454 Patented June 6, 1967 complete apparatus for performing all operations which precede the preparation of a mat.

The invention is described in the following specification and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top elevational view of the composing means provided by the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1, showing also the means associated with the invention for taking a proof of the composed cuts and type slugs;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the composing device shown in FIG. 1, showing outs and type slugs arranged on the composing device in predetermined position and ready for a proof to be taken;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view representing a slug of cast type or a pictorial cut and illustrating the operations performed thereon in accordance with this invention, and

FIG. 5 is a blown up and diagrammatic showing of the parts which make up the composing device, showing the thickness of each part and the overall thickness.

The apparatus provided by the invention comprises, first, means for composing a composite page of cuts and type, such means being indicated generally at A and comprising a light box 2 having opaque sides 4, 6, bottom 8, interior lights 10 and a transparent or translucent cover 12 which may be a 4-inch thick sheet of the material now commercially available under the trademark Plexiglas. On the upper surface of the cover 12 and at opposite sides thereof and spaced laterally of the box there are attached, as by screws, two parallel combination guide rails and scales which are indicated generally by numerals 14, 16 and the construction and arrangement of which forms an important part of the invention. As best Shown in FIG. 2, the respective guide rails com-prise elongated members 18, 18a of rectangular substantially square cross section, to the upper surfaces of which are connected, as by screws, second elongated members 20, 20a which are of flat rectangular section and each of which extends outwardly beyond the outer side wall of the associated member 18 or 18a to overhang the same. The composite side rails and scales 14, 16 are spaced on the upper surface of the light box by such a distance that the tracks formed at the outside of the rails below the overhanging outer edges of members 20 20a are spaced apart by a distance which permits them to receive the rollers 30 of the portable proof press B, which has the construction and operation disclosed in by United States Letters Patent 2,901,971 so that the press may be moved back and forth along the parallel guide rails for a purpose and with a result to be described.

On, or embedded in, the upper surface of each of the fiat, elongated overhanging members 20, 20a and extending longitudinally of it there is provided a scale device containing or exhibiting two coincident scales, one of which 34, 34a of the two scale devices is subdivided into inches and parts thereof, such as sixteenths, and the other of which 36, 36a is subdivided into picas and points, preferably for the six-point and twelve-point scales. Scales 34, 36 of the combined device 14 increase from the front 38 of the light box, which is the operators position, to the rear 40 of the apparatus, which scales 34a, 3611 increase in the opposite direction.

A transparent or translucent T-square or cursor 50 is mounted to move longitudinally along the guide rails 14,

16 and is guided by means of side pieces 52, 54 which resiliently bear on the outer side edges of the upper members 20, 20a of the side rails. This cursor is provided on or in its upper surface with a scale device having co-inciden-t scales 56, 58 which increase from left to right as viewed from the operators position at the front of the table and which, respectively, have the same divisions as the longitudinal scales 34, 36 and 34a, 36a.

The apparatus provided by the invention and described above is used in a new manner to provide striking savings in the cost and effort expended in composition, and the use of this apparatus will now be described in connection with the composition of a composite page of advertising. In beginning the composition the composer is first provided with all of the slugs of type and all of the pictorial cuts required for the page, a representative cut or slug being illustrated in FIG. 4. Each of these slugs or cuts comprises a base 60 and relief material 62, such as type or pictorial matter raised above a surface 64 of the base. Each slug or cut always measures, in accordance with all modern composing room practice, .918 inch from the surface of the relief material 62 to the lower surface 66 of the base. The type or other relief material of each slug or cut, together with a part of the base adjacent surface 64, is now severed from the remainder of the base on a plane CC parallel to the surface of the relief and extending through the body of the base to provide a thin section 70 which includes all of the relief material of the slug or cut. For reasons which will be described, each slug 70 is .154 inch thick. It will be understood, of course, that the preparation of these slugs need not be done before other steps, as the order of steps is not of primary importance.

Having prepared the slugs 70, the operator now places on the upper surface of the translucent light box top 12 a translucent plate 80, which is preferably made of Plexiglas and which is approximately .500 inch thick for a reason which will be explained. If reproduction work is to be done he then places on top of sheet 80 a previously printed page 82 of composite advertising matter, but this sheet -is omitted for original composition. A second transparent plate 84 formed of Plexiglas or similar material is now placed on top of the newsprint and this plate will be .264 inch in thickness if the other thicknesses described above are used. The upper surface of this plate is provided with an adhesive or tacky substance.

The parts having been prepared and assembled in the described manner and relation, the compositor first turns on the lamps to provide upward illumination through the translucent plates 80, 84 and the sheet of advertising 82, if one is present. He then takes the cut slugs 70 of type and pictorial matter and individually places these on the upper surface of plate 84 in proper relative position and spacing to compose the entire page in accordance with a predetermined plan or layout. The compositor will place the slugs 70 on the tacky upper surface of sheet 84 in vertical alignment with the spaced type material and pictorial illustrations on the advertising sheet 82 if one is present for reproduction work. Otherwise, for original composition he will arrange the slugs and cuts on the upper surface of plate 84 in predetermined or desirable arrangement and. spacing to make up the composite page. The slugs will be held in the positions in which they are placed by the adhesive action of the tacky material and they cannot be readily or easily moved sideways on the plate or removed therefrom. When all of the slugs 70 have been placed in position on the tacky upper surface of plate 84, the entire printed page will be produced on that surface by the separate slugs.

The tacky upper surface of plate 84 will hold the slugs 70 firmly against movement with respect to each other, but will still permit any slug to be stripped from the adhesive and moved to a new location if error is found on subsequent proofing. It will be seen that because of the adherence of the separate slugs to the plate 84 no metal spacing means between adjacent slugs is required.

In positoning the slugs 70 on the tacky upper surface of translucent sheet 84 the compositior makes use of the spaced parallel longitudinal scales 34, 34a, 36, 36a, and the similar scales on the transversely disposed cursor 50, to position the slugs. Thus, the longitudinal and transverse inch scales may be used to locate the dimensional co-ordinates of any point on the tacky surface and to position such point to correspond to the co-ordinates of any point in a predetermined layout. The point scales may be used to set the size of type and the dimensions of any slug. By reason of the opposite direct-ion of the longitudinal scales 34, 36 and 34a, 36a the positiion of the cursor 50 and any part of any slug fro-m either the compositors end of the table or the opposite end may be quickly noted without computation.

The assembled slugs 70 on the upper surface of plate 84- are now ready for proofing, and the apparatus provided by the invention greatly facilitates this step in the printing operation. In the absence of the portable proof press described and claimed in my aforesaid Letters Patent and in the absence of the special construction provided by the invention to accommodate that press, it would be necessary to proof the composed slugs 70 in a power operated page proofing machine in accordance with known practice, and such proofing in a power machine would reduce or eliminate the utility of the composing part of the invention, as the lateral pressure of such a power machine would tend to displace the type slugs 70 laterally with respect to each other or tear them from the plate 84 on which they are held adhesively. However, because of the construction and positioning of the side rails, 18, 20, 18a, 20a the rollers 30 of the manual proof press B of my said Letters Patent may be fitted to the guide rails under the overhanging edge parts thereof and the proof press moved back and forth over the slugs 70 on plate 84, it being understood of course that a page proof sheet 86 is placed on the upper surface of the slugs 70 after inking of the relief surfaces of the slugs by the inking roller 90 of the press and before passing the impression roller 92 over the page proof sheet. The operation of this manual proof press is such that insufficient force is exerted by it on the slugs 70 to dislodge or move them in any way, while the overhanging edges of parts 20, 20a, bearing as they do on the upper peripheral parts of wheels 30 of the proof press provide the reaction necessary to force the roller surfaces of the press toward the upper surfaces of the relief elements of the slugs 70, thus insuring proper inking of the relief elements prior to insertion of the newsprint sheet 86 and proper impression on the sheet after it is positioned on the relief elements. If the proof shows that any changes must be made in the arrangement of the slugs 70 this may be done by manually removing any slug and replacing it where desired. When the proof is completed and verified, the assembled parts and slugs are ready for further processing in the printing operation.

In accordance with the invention the plates 80, 84 and the slugs 70 have a combined thickness of .918 inch, this being the sum of the thickness set forth above (plate :.500, plate 84:.264, slugs 70:.154). This is the usual and conventional thickness of type slugs in a chase in all hot metal printing composition. Accordingly, the assembly of plates 80 and 84 and slugs 70 may be moved as a unit and placed within a usual chase and locked therein, and when this is done the upper surface of the slugs 70 will be at the usual conventional position and elevation. The chase and these assembled parts therein may then be put into a pressure machine for the production of a mat in the usual and conventional way, it being understood that the formation of the mat and the subsequent printing operations do not form part of this invention.

If zinc plate is used, as for photographs, instead of flat cast, the thickness of parts 70 will be .065 inch instead of .154, and in this case the combined thickness of plates 80 and 84 must be increased by the difference of .089 inch (.154 minus .065) in order that the combined thickness of the assembly will be .918 inch.

While I have described and illustrated one embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the arts to which it relates that other embodiments, as well as modifications of that disclosed, may be made and practiced without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for composing and proofing a page of text and pictorial matter from thin slugs of base and relief matter severed from conventional type slugs and cuts representing such text and pictorial matter, comprising a box having side walls, a translucent cover, a removable translucent plate on said cover adapted to have the page of text and pictorial matter positioned between it and the cover, said plate having a tacky upper surface on which said type slugs and cuts are placed in positions registering with the text and pictorial matter of the page positioned between the cover and the plate, a light source within the box, spaced parallel guide rails and scales connected to the upper surface of the cover at opposite sides thereof and extending longitudinally of the box, each of the combined guide rails and scales being of inverted L- shape in cros section with outwardly facing overhang to provide external channels for receiving and guiding the supporting rollers of a portable proof press as the press is moved longitudinally of the box over the slugs and cuts positioned on the upper surface of said plate, the upper surface of each of the combined guide rails and scales having inch and point scales thereon extending longitudinally of the box, and a translucent cursor extending between the combined guide rails and scales and mounted for movement longitudinally thereof above the 6 upper surface of the plate and having thereon an inch scale and a point scale both of which extend along the cursor between the scales on the combined guide rails and scales.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising in addition a portable proof press having supporting wheels positioned in the external channels provided by the combined guide rails and scales.